


mind over body

by sunarists



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Sense8 (TV) Fusion, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmates, Strangers to Lovers, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25304299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunarists/pseuds/sunarists
Summary: Sokka's not sure what he's expecting when he wakes up in the morning.It's definitely not the fact he's got a telepathic connection with seven strangers around the world.-or, a play on a sense8 au
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Suki
Comments: 42
Kudos: 231





	1. wake up call

**Author's Note:**

> FOREWORD:  
> the universe this is set in is a modern play on the canon universe. there are no nations/tribes/kingdoms, but the city names remain the same (ba sing se, caldera, omashu, gaoling, etc). there is no bending in this universe.  
> they're all adults. 
> 
> it is a play on the sense8 concept- not the same plot, but same ideas regarding the telepathic bond, etc, etc.

Sokka can't believe his eyes. 

He's blinked, blinked _hard,_ squeezed them shut till stars danced in the black of his vision. He's shaken his head violently, he's turned around and back again, he's slapped himself in the face. 

The boy sitting on his kitchen counter doesn't go away. 

"Are you done yet?" He says curiously, his voice completely lacking malice. This boy is _bald_ , wearing a pair of overalls that are- _wow,_ they're _very_ orange. In his lap sits a fluffy calico cat, and the boy's fingers stroke it kindly, gently. He smiles, eyes darting down Sokka's figure, fighting a smile at his paw print-patterned boxers.

"How did you get in my _house?"_ Sokka yelps, scrambling for a knife and holding it out in front of him. "I've got, like, _four_ locks on my door!"

The boy looks at him pointedly, maybe a little pityingly, but a faint smile still plays at his lips. "That's a butterknife." 

One glance at said knife proves the stranger to be truthful, and Sokka drops it to the ground with a clatter, resigning himself to whatever fate this weird kid had in store for him. 

This has to be a figment of his imagination- it's early, too early in the morning. He's up at the crack of dawn for no apparent reason other than the fact he accidentally left his curtains open.

Maybe he's still dreaming.

"I'm not actually in your house." The kid says, like it's obvious. "We're linked. I'm just visiting your mind." 

Sokka looks at him stupidly, and the kid cocks his head.

"Okay, I should've expected this." He sighs. "First of all, I'm Aang, and this is my cat, Appa. Second of all, you might want to put on some pants. Let's talk." 

* * *

Aang's relocated to Sokka's lumpy couch in the time that he'd gone back to his room and shrugged on a ratty pair of sweatpants. Aang sits cross legged in the middle of it, cat still firmly in lap, and brightens up when he sees Sokka reemerge from the hallway. 

"So you're- you're _what,_ a hallucination?" Sokka sinks into the armchair besides the couch, gripping his chipped coffee mug. He takes deep breaths of the rich scent- maybe they'll snap him out of this.... this _vision_ he's having. 

Aang shakes his head, his fingers idly scratching Appa's head. 

"You've heard of clusters, right?" He asks. Sokka pauses, just for a second, before nodding slowly. 

Clusters were only whispered about nowadays- they were rare, very rare. A group of random people, telepathically, emotionally linked. It was a powerful thing, to be a part of a cluster. 

And that's why President Sozin, all those years ago, had burned down cities to hunt them down. His son Azulon had followed his footsteps, and his grandson Ozai continued today.

"They're illegal." Sokka whispers, and Aang's cheerful disposition turns grim. 

"I know." He says darkly. 

Omashu, the city only a couple hundred miles from where Sokka lived in Ba Sing Se, had been turned inside out by Sozin in his obsession with the extinction of clusters, and it was still nothing but smoking slums today. 

"So- I'm-" Sokka splutters, his wide eyes darting down to his shaking hands and back to a sympathetic Aang. 

"It's a blessing, to be a part of a cluster." Aang says gently. "You have access to the cluster's knowledge. Skills. Language. Feelings. But I understand why this might be difficult to process." 

Sokka's ears are ringing from the shock, folding himself further in the armchair. His mug of coffee sits on the table, cooling and forgotten. 

His mere _existence_ was outlawed.

"I need to tell Katara." Sokka breathes shakily. 

"Toph's already there." Aang blurts, and Sokka whips his head around to stare at him. 

"You mean- you mean _she's a part of it too?"_ He all but shrieks, and Aang's eyes widen, motioning at him to be quiet. 

"Come on, Sokka!" Aang hisses. "Do you _know_ how high the bounty is for clusters?" 

"There's a _bounty?"_ Sokka moans, letting his head fall into his hands. 

"Try and reach out to Katara, in your mind." Aang instructs, stopping Sokka in the midst of his panic. "Toph and I took a long time trying to find you guys. It should be easier for you, because you actually know her." 

Sokka can't even begin to describe how colossally stupid he feels when he closes his eyes, scrunching his nose in concentration. He envisions himself standing in front of his baby sister, reaching out towards her-

He opens his eyes, and Katara, in front of him, drops a glass. It shatters on contact with her clean ceramic floor. 

"Sokka." She gasps. "You're- you're doing it?" 

A young female voice pipes up from behind him, irritated and snappy. "Yeah, he's doing it, princess. It could've been you popping into _his_ house and _him_ dropping a cup on his floor, but _no-"_

" _Okay,_ Toph, I get it." Katara snaps irately. Sokka turns around- still reeling from the fact that he was in Katara's kitchen- no, he was at _home,_ on his armchair, but also in Katara's kitchen- to see a cranky looking girl, arms crossed and lips pursed. She wears long green pants, ones that are flowy at the ankles, and simple leather sandals, as well as a white tunic. An emerald coloured headband holds the loose strands of her tight black bun out of her face. Her eyes are glassy, glazed over and seemingly staring into nothingness- 

"I'm blind, asshat." She snaps, scowling at him

Sokka flusters, choking on air as he realises that she seemingly pulled the words out of his mind. 

"Think of it this way, Sokka." She says snippily, uncrossing her arms as she approaches him. "What you feel, I _could_ feel, if I wanted to. What you see, I _could_ see. Wherever you are, I _could_ be there too. We share knowledge, skills, emotions, senses. You, me, _her-"_ she points at Katara. "- Aang- we're the same energy in eight different bodies. We're connected." 

She moves out of his face, going back to her spot leaning against Katara's fridge. Sokka looks at her blankly, his jaw on the floor, as he processes her words. It's a lot to take in, that he's nothing but a piece in a large puzzle of people, his body just a vessel for a collective mind that's been split. What had changed, between last night and today? 

Had they always been there? Been a part of him?

"Sokka, Toph, Aang, and me." Katara mutters, breaking him out of his reverie. "That's four." 

"Yeah?" Sokka hisses hysterically. "What's your point?" 

Katara slowly looks up, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion before facing Toph. 

"You said there were eight of us." She states. Sokka's eyes widen, questions bubbling up in his own mind as he makes the connection. 

" _Who are the other four?"_

* * *

When Sokka finds himself back on his couch, the coffee that had been left alone is now ice-cold. He sighs after taking a sip before tossing it out, feeling too queasy to force anything down. Aang's gone- which means he's either left and "visited" someone else, or simply went back to his own body. 

He finally finds the strength to stand up, and makes his way to the bathroom. A splash of cold water sounds like heaven right about now, so he indulged, turning the tap on and bending down. 

When he comes up, there’s a girl in his mirror. 

"Fuck!" Sokka shouts, flinching and throwing his head back, only for it to connect with his _very_ hard bathroom wall. He bites down on a yowl, pressing his fingers gently to where he could already feel a lump forming on the back of his skull.

"Oh, sorry!" The girl winces, holding her hands up to her mouth. She has reddish brown hair, chopped to her shoulders, and held back by a cute plastic clip. She seems strong, with broad shoulders revealed by a red tank top, but friendly, with bright eyes and an apologetic smile with full lips. 

She’s pretty- Sokka could admit that. 

"You're not Mai, are you?" Sokka inquires sulkily, still smarting over his head injury. "No, Mai's the goth one- the one that used to live in Caldera, with Ty Lee- you don't seem like a Caldera girl, which means you must be-" 

"Suki." She interrupts. "Yes, that's me. And you're Sokka." 

"That I am." 

She smiles wryly, raising a brow. "You and your sister were pretty damn difficult to reach." 

Sokka turns the tap off, crossing his arms irritatedly. "So everybody tells us. How were we supposed to know?" 

Suki shrugs. "You couldn't have. But it's fine. We're all here now. We're trying to get Mai, Ty Lee and Zuko to visit you, but with them being in Caldera-" 

"Oh, yeah." Sokka remembers. "President Ozai. They're so close to him." 

Suki snorts, leaning her head in his hands. "You don't even know the _half_ of it. Want me to catch you up?"

Sokka nods eagerly, ignoring the sharp pain stabbing at the back of his skull. "Should I get Katara?" 

Suki waves him away, and she disappears from the mirror. Sokka stares back at himself instead of the girl he'd just gotten used to seeing instead of his reflection, but a voice pipes up from his living room. 

"Nice place, man. And don't worry, Aang's got her covered." Suki smirks, when he comes out and sees her making herself comfortable on the middle of couch, sitting in a cross-legged position just as Aang had. "He seems to have taken a liking to her." 

Sokka doesn't like the implications of that sentence, even though Aang, with his bright orange overalls and sunny beams, might be the _least_ intimidating person Sokka had ever seen. Katara was plenty able to take care of herself, but he still felt a protective instinct, and tried his luck at probing into Aang and Katara's feelings. 

First, nothing. 

Then, a nervous sort of excitement. His heart fluttering quickly in a way he could tell was Aang's. He could faintly hear Katara's musical giggling at something the boy had said. 

"Whoa." Sokka breathes, before shaking himself out of it. Suki grins at him, leaning back into the couch. 

"Weird, huh? Don't worry, you'll get used to it." She says soothingly. "Now, let me get you up to date." 

Sokka listens patiently as Suki tells him that six months ago, Aang visited Toph for the first time, making them the first established connection in the cluster. Toph lives in Gaoling, another city not too far away from Ba Sing Se. Aang was a traveller, exploring city after city, and had been at the abandoned temple on Crescent Island at the time. 

"Then they encountered Mai." Suki explains. "Mai is the daughter of Senator Ukano-" 

"Senator _Ukano?"_ Sokka exclaims. "Isn't he in Ozai's congress?" 

"Yep." Suki nods. "Luckily, Aang and Toph's timing was just about perfect. She had just fallen out with her ex-friend and daughter of Ozai, Azula, and was being relocated to one of the smaller Fire Nation colonies, where she currently is now. Turns out that her friend, now girlfriend, Ty Lee, was a part of our cluster too, but she still lives in Caldera." 

"That's dangerous." Sokka mutters lowly. It takes all of his willpower not to try and reach out towards Mai and Ty Lee, just out of pure curiosity, but he stays, continuing to listen to Suki's story. 

"You bet it is." Suki mumbles. "Then they found me. I'm on Kyoshi Island, at the all girls security firm-" 

"You're a Kyoshi warrior?" Sokka gasps. "That's so cool! Man, my sister used to wanna be one so bad. But she's becoming a doctor instead." 

Suki hums her acknowledgement, grinning slightly at the confession. "Her skills could be useful to us all." 

Sokka startles again at the reminder that everything they know, _he_ knows. They've unlocked a world of opportunity that he hadn't even realised was accessible to him. He could roam Caldera, Kyoshi Island, Gaoling, the _world_ without ever leaving his shitty apartment in the sketchy neighbourhoods of Ba Sing Se. 

"Who's the last person?" Sokka asks finally. Suki's face twists into one of apprehension, and Sokka narrows his eyes. 

"You're not gonna like it." 

Sokka glares at her, the suspense making him itch, and she sighs. 

"His name is Zuko." She says carefully. "He lives in Caldera, and actually knew Mai and Ty Lee personally." 

He looks at her confusedly, scratching his head. "Why wouldn't I like that?" 

He holds a breath.

She sighs again, a little deeper. Worry begins to simmer within him, and he wipes his clammy palms on his sweatpants. 

"Zuko is President Ozai's son." She says quietly. "He knows Mai and Ty Lee because they were best friends with his sister."

Sokka breathes out. 

* * *

It's late at night, but Ba Sing Se is the city that never sleeps. Sokka's dingy apartment is illuminated by neon signs from outside, blues, purples and pinks flooding into his living room. 

He's bent over his engineering coursework, pencil firmly in his mouth, when everyone decides they're convening in his apartment. The pencil falls out of his mouth as he feels Toph and Suki flank him on both sides. Aang cheerfully takes the couch, and Katara stands, arms folded as she marvels at how she's in Sokka's apartment, but still at her own at the same time. 

Two unfamiliar women and a man stand awkwardly at the centre of the living room. One of the women is tall, all sharp angles and perfect bone structure, her long black hair pulled into space buns. She wears dark red and black, dressed professionally, practically. She scowls at the sight of them all, rolling her eyes before absently admiring her own fingernails. 

The second woman is shorter, and seemingly a lot more happy to be there- she looks around in wonder, smiling friendlily at Sokka, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She's decked out in a full pink outfit- crop top, pants, shoes, _everything-_ and her brown hair falls down her back in simple braids. 

Sokka's mouth dries up upon further inspection of the man. 

He's all sorts of tall, dark and handsome- he's got shaggy black hair, unevenly cut and rugged. He looks strong, cold, with perfect posture and a neutral, smoothed over expression. He's got a jagged scar over his eye, a furious red and dark against the pale skin of his face, but it only adds to Sokka's intrigue. 

"This is Mai and Ty Lee." Aang introduces. "And that's Zuko." 

"I figured." Sokka says wryly, shaking away his thoughts about the strange male newcomer and turning his attention to Aang. "Is there a reason you're all in my room, or-" 

"Well, I just thought it'd be nice if we all met one another properly!" Aang says excitedly. "I mean, Toph and I found one another easily enough, and Mai, Ty Lee and Suki weren't that difficult either. Zuko, you and Katara- now _you_ guys were tough." 

"Yeah." Toph chimes in. "It was like there was a wall around your minds." 

"It was there for a _reason."_ Zuko grumbles under his breath- his _voice._ Raspy, deep and melodic. 

This was going to be an issue for Sokka. 

"Is it safe for you guys to be- you know- visiting?" Katara worries, chewing her lip. "I mean, Ty Lee and Zuko. You guys live in Caldera, and Ozai's so-" 

"Yeah." Zuko interrupts darkly. "I know how Ozai is." 

One quick glance around the room shows that Zuko's heritage is no secret- Sokka supposes there _are_ no secrets, between them all. If Sokka concentrates, he can feel the heat of Caldera against his skin, skin that belongs to Zuko and Ty Lee. 

"He doesn't know, does he?" Sokka blurts, slapping a hand over his mouth as soon as the words have exited it. Zuko looks at him with a mixture of disbelief, tiredness and a tinge of irritation. 

"No shit he doesn't know." He snaps. "He'll kill me." 

"He'd kill his own son?" Katara breathes. Sokka doesn't miss the way Zuko flinches, and the way Mai shoots daggers at Katara with her eyes. The silence is thick with tension, everyone holding a bated breath, but Zuko doesn't seem like he's particularly interested in answering the question anytime soon. 

"So whatcha workin' on Sokka?" Ty Lee says brightly. It's the least subtle attempt at changing the subject Sokka's ever seen, but who is he to object to it? He watches as the discomfort floods out of Zuko's amber eyes, the tightness in his shoulders melting away.

"Engineering coursework." Sokka explains, spreading out blueprints and equations. "I'm working on a degree at Ba Sing Se University." 

"You're an engineer?" Mai asks, and it's the most expressive he's heard her all night. Her eyes seem alight with interest as she gazes down at the papers sprawled all over the coffee table, squatting to read Sokka's messy scrawl. 

"Mai's, like, the best at physics." Ty Lee brags. "That's why she's got perfect aim with those knives." 

Sokka looks up to stare at Mai questioningly. She shrugs, seemingly unbothered by the statement, taking the pencil from him.

"I went through a phase." 

"I've got early morning shift at the hospital tomorrow." Katara explains, stretching slowly as she yawns. "Sorry guys, I better get some rest. I'll see you guys- well- I'll see you guys whenever, I guess." 

"Could I visit you at the hospital?" Aang chirps, eyes wide and excited as he looks at her. She blushes a little, smiling and nodding. 

Sokka blinks, and his sister is gone. 

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." He mutters, rubbing his eyes. 

"Well, _I've_ got a busy day of doing absolutely nothing tomorrow." Toph grins, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "See you, losers." 

Blink. 

Toph's gone. There's no mark in the couch to show she was ever there. 

"I should turn in as well." Suki mumbles tiredly. "Kyoshi Warriors have to get up early. See ya, Sokka." 

Blink. 

Suki's gone. 

Mai doesn't say anything before she disappears from Sokka's vision, not even to Ty Lee. He assumes that the girlfriends will visit one another privately, somewhere that preferably wasn't a stranger's cheap living room. He gets it. 

"We better get back, Zuko." Ty Lee urges. "It's ben a while. Patrols are tightening." 

Zuko nods once, then again at Aang, who waves cheerfully. The man turns towards Sokka- can he feel how Sokka's heart is racing? How his palms are sweating, how his breathing is getting heavy? 

He truly hopes not. 

"Nice meeting you, Sokka." He says politely. Sokka can feel the note of truth to it, that in fact, Zuko _did_ think it was nice to meet him. He can only muster a weak smile before Ty Lee and Zuko blink out of his vision, and it's back to just him and Aang, just like this morning in the kitchen. 

"You can tune down your emotions, you know." Aang says gently. "For privacy, if that's something that bothers you. It's probably not the best, having seven strangers able to tap into your thoughts whenever they feel like it." 

"How do I do that?" Sokka asks hoarsely- it's hitting him, how _long_ this day has been. It's been a rollercoaster from the start, and Sokka wants nothing more than to sleep, the initial adrenaline of every new twist and turn of each hour starting to wear him down. 

"I'll teach you tomorrow." Aang tells him firmly. "You need to rest. You've had a pretty exciting day." 

Sokka ignores the fact that he feels like he's being lectured by his father, rather than someone that had to be _just_ turned eighteen, and instead sighs deeply, idly motioning towards his papers. 

"I've still got work to do." Sokka mumbles, groaning. Aang smiles, that funny little cryptic curve of his, and shakes his head. 

"No you don't. Thank Mai, for that." He points at the work. 

Sokka looks down to see his hand moving of it's own accord, finishing a last equation in a sharp, delicate handwriting that doesn't belong to him. When the pencil stops moving, his hand feels like his own once more, and he looks over the questions quickly. 

They're all correct. 

When Sokka looks back up, Aang's gone, and he's all alone in his neon washed living room once more. 


	2. daydreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my twitter is @505daytime, feel free to talk to me!!

It takes a long time, getting used to. There's levels to this shit, and Sokka's not aware of any of them. 

First, the obvious change- the fact that six _strangers_ (and his sister) have complete access to his setting at any given moment. It's made for a few awkward encounters- Suki had tried popping in for a visit, and ended up getting a good look at Sokka in the shower. It had been one of the lower points in his life, but he held onto his pride, no matter how bruised it was getting. 

Then, the layers of knowledge. Senses. Feelings. Occasionally, out of no where, Sokka would feel a wave of emotion that didn't belong to him. Frustration, when Katara had misplaced her hospital scrubs. Pride, when Ty Lee had landed a flip that was giving her a tough time. There was Mai, who gave off apathy apathy _apathy_ , and Suki, who was a whole blur of emotions, loud and colourful. 

Sokka would be in class, absently doodling in the margins of his paper, when he out of nowhere would taste _spice,_ spice _everywhere-_ his tongue on fire, his mouth burning. It's Caldera culture, apparently, to dump a bottle of chilli in every meal you consume, and Ty Lee and Zuko are the traditional type. 

_Zuko._

Sokka's tried probing towards Zuko, every now and then. His emotions aren't tuned in to Sokka's mind like the rest of the cluster has- it's difficult, gauging what Zuko's feeling at any given moment. Toph and Aang were right- it _was_ like a wall. 

He supposes it was only safe- after all, being President Ozai's son and being a part of a cluster had to be the universe's idea of a terrible, terrible joke. 

That's the final level that Sokka's just figuring out- fear. 

_All the time._

Sokka hadn't realised how _dangerous_ being in a cluster was until he was in one himself. They were outlawed in every city under Ozai's rule- Ba Sing Se included. Posters that Sokka had never noticed before these past few days were suddenly all he could see- _eight thousand gold pieces for one member of a cluster._

Eight thousand gold pieces, one thousand for each member. After all, if you found one, you found them all. 

It makes Sokka feel sick. 

"What was Sozin's deal with clusters, anyways?" Sokka mutters to himself as he enters his apartment, throwing his bag to the floor haphazardly. He's not alone, in this apartment- he's learned to sense when he was being visited, and his nerves tingled, the hairs on his arms standing as he turned on the dim fluorescent light, ready to see who would be revealed. 

He hadn't expected it to be Zuko. 

Sokka's heart flutters at the vision of him perched elegantly on his armchair- the way he sits under the light makes him look so sharp, all shadows and angles. There's an edge in his eyes- Sokka wonders why it exists, where it was born. 

He's got a lot of questions about Zuko. But they can wait. Sokka can be patient.

"His best friend Roku was in a cluster." The man says monotonously, almost boredly, inspecting his own hands and not sparing Sokka a sideways glance. "And he found out that the cluster was trying to liberate smaller territories from his dictatorship. Sozin outlawed clusters in Caldera, and as a result, banished Roku." 

"That's horrible." Sokka flops onto the couch, propping his head up to look at Zuko. "He banished his own best friend?" 

"It was generous." Zuko corrects. "He could've executed Roku for treason against the state. It was Roku's second betrayal that drove Sozin into obsession with the destruction of clusters." 

"A _second_ betrayal?" Sokka whistles lowly.

Zuko sighs, looking like he's trying to find the words. "It was personal." 

Sokka cocks his head in curiosity, brows furrowing while he waits for Zuko to elaborate further.

"Sozin was in love with Roku." Zuko says hurriedly. "But Roku married a woman in his cluster. Ta Min. When Sozin found out, he outlawed clusters in every territory that belonged to him." 

It hits Sokka like a slap in the face- he thinks he might have physically flinched, his face curling into one of disbelief. Before now, he didn't know the origin of hate towards his kind, but he had never imagined it would be _jealousy._

"Sozin hammered anti-cluster sentiment into his son Azulon, saying that clusters were sole and most dangerous threat to the presidency within their family. And before Azulon died, he did the same thing to my father." 

There's a pregnant pause, after that. Another reminder of Zuko's lineage, and what it meant for Sokka. 

Suddenly, all Sokka feels from Zuko is _shame shame shame._ It's red hot, warm and prickling down his spine. It's hopelessly uncomfortable, even when it doesn't belong to him. 

"I'm sorry." Zuko mumbles genuinely. "Of all people to be stuck in a cluster with-" 

"Hey." Sokka interrupts with a surprising fierceness. "You didn't ask for this to happen either. If anything, you're in the most danger." 

He didn't expect to feel such a strong protective instinct for his newfound friends either- but they were growing on him. He supposes it was the fact that technically, in all aspects and regards, _they_ were all the same person. 

"Aside from the cute history lesson, is there a reason you dropped in?" Sokka asks, quickly changing the subject. "Not that I'm complaining, of course. You normally don't visit." 

"Why?" Zuko asks dumbly. "Do you want me to?" 

Sokka only has a second to tamp down his embarrassment, praying to any higher power that Zuko hadn't felt it too. He knows for sure his cheeks are flushed red, probably spreading down his neck and onto his chest, with how mortified he feels. 

"No- yes! I mean, everybody else does." Sokka flusters. "You don't have to! Obviously. I was just- I'm used to getting visits from the rest of them- but of course, your circumstances are different and-" 

"It's nothing personal." Zuko says gently, cutting into Sokka's mortifying word vomit with ease. He's got a playful lilt to his smirk, eyebrows raised in faint shock. "I've got duties, as the president's son. I'm under constant watch, except at night. Like now." 

"I understand." Sokka says awkwardly. "Wait- what do you mean, you're on constant watch? Why?" 

Zuko's face falls, and Sokka feels only a minimal amount of sadness radiating from him. He's tuned it down, apparently not wanting Sokka pick up on it, but the damage is done. 

"Just because- you know. President's son." 

It's a shoddy lie, stilted and stumbling, and very guilty, but Sokka allows it with a nod. If Zuko wants to keep a few secrets, who is he to feel entitled to him?

They already share everything else.

"I'll let you rest now." Zuko murmurs softly. "It's getting late." 

That it is- soft neon glow washes Sokka's room in vibrant colour, and it's only now that he begins to feel his eyelids droop, his body weary. Zuko purses his lips in sympathy.

Sokka's not as good as keeping his mind to himself as he thought. 

"Good night, Zuko." He whispers. 

Zuko's smile is kind, warm, only a small curve to his mouth. Sokka wishes he would smile more. It's a good look on him, contentment. 

"Good night, Sokka." Zuko echoes his words from the night they met- this time with amicability injected into, getting up from the armchair gracefully. It was as genuine as it had been the first time, but Sokka couldn't help but feel different, this time. 

Like he was disappointed that Zuko had to go. 

And with a blink of an eye, he's gone. Only Sokka's memory would prove he was ever there at all. 

Zuko is despairingly elusive- right in Sokka's reach, but never close enough for him to grab hold of. The wall that Aang and Toph had worked so hard to break down to reach him still existed in some sense- he was private, quiet, and soft-spoken. Sokka could feel that the man had some spunk- his words held bite, he'd seen the attitude on Zuko's face. But he'd yet to see it in action. 

Zuko was an enigma, and Sokka had always been the curious type.

When Sokka heads to bed that night, he burrows under the covers as the chill of a Ba Sing Se night settles into his bones. Noise from the streets below, vendors hustling, men and women alike chattering, faint music, wafts up and through his window, filling his room with familiar sounds.

He realises he never found out why Zuko had visited. 

* * *

It's the weekend, so Sokka doesn't have classes to attend. He's leaves his copious piles of work at home and goes out on a limb, focusing himself into Mai's mindspace. 

When he opens his eyes, he's sitting across from Mai at a coffee table. One look around the room shows that he's in her private chambers- a cleanly made bed, untouched, takes up space in the middle of the room, and a large framed photo of a family hangs on the wall, alone. Other than that, the room is bare. 

She doesn't look shocked nor surprised at his sudden presence, and continues daintily sipping her tea. Sokka waits for her to finish, partially because it's the polite thing to do, and partially out of fear of disturbing her.

Instead, he allows himself into her senses- the tea is mildly bitter, deep in flavour. It seems to be the expensive type, the type that Katara always wishes she could pull off the shelves at the grocery store, but never can bring herself to. It's strange, feeling the taste of something spread around his mouth, but no texture to attribute it to- like flavoured air.

When Mai sets her empty tea cup in down, she looks at him boredly, appraising him silently. Her scrutiny makes Sokka feel itchy, his nerves tingling all over his body as her eyes narrow. 

"You haven't finished your readings." She finally hums. "Your notes are due on Monday." 

"Nothing an all nighter can't fix." He answers cheerfully. "So, asides from brooding and drinking tea that costs, like, more than my rent, what do you do around here?" 

_Here_ is an outside colony, a few hundred miles from Caldera. Sokka doesn't know the name of it, nor does he particularly care. It's far, far away from Ba Sing Se, and in turn, far, far away from him. 

Yet here he is, looking Mai directly in the eye. 

"Not much." She mutters truthfully. "I do work that my father sends over- anything regarding Ember Island is mine to take care of, apparently. I go to the beach, sometimes." 

Ember Island. That's where they were. It's the most he's ever heard Mai speak before, and Sokka's determined to not let it stop there. 

"Why the beach?" He inquires. "You don't seem like a swim and surf type of girl, to be honest." 

She smiles, but it's a wry one, and it doesn't exactly reach her eyes. "I'm not." 

There's a story there- Sokka can feel it brimming underneath her words. He won't press, not now, even though he's _begging_ to know at this point. 

"Take me to the beach, then." He claps, already standing up. He hopes that his action will spur Mai's, and inwardly cheers when she looks at him with mild irritation before getting up as well, dusting herself off. 

They take a path outside of Mai's chambers, paved with stone and lined with low bushes and flowers. The sky is clear, save for littered clouds, few and far between. If Sokka concentrates, he can hear the ocean waves rolling onto the shore, comforting and calm.

The silence between them as they walk isn't awkward, but it's tense enough to make Sokka feel mildly uncomfortable. 

"How'd you and Ty Lee start dating, then?" He blurts, before slapping a hand over his mouth. He'd meant to fill the quiet, yes, but not with _that._ He waits for Mai to promptly tell him to fuck off- Sokka bets if he was there, on Ember Island, in person, he'd be decorated with her fabled knives by now-

Wait. 

Mai _smiles._

It's so, _so_ faint, and if Sokka blinked, he would've missed it- but there it had been, clear as day.

"You're nosey." She says, but she's amused. "Ty Lee and I have been friends since we were children- both our fathers are in Ozai's congress. She's one of seven identical sisters- so she's never felt much like her own person. She spent years chasing attention from any boy or girl that would give it to her. And I- well, I've never been particularly amazing at- well, feelings." 

"No kidding, Mai." Sokka mumbles. He quietens once more when she sends him a irritated glare, letting her continue with the story. 

"It bothered me, for a while, that Ty Lee was always off with someone- and I didn't know how to talk to her about it." Mai confesses. "It took me a long time to put together what I wanted to say. She was waiting, for me to tell her, you know." 

She pauses, for a few moments, and Sokka can feel the mild sadness that comes off of her like an aura. It's tinged with something- longing, maybe. Like Mai wishes she was able to tell Ty Lee earlier. 

"And when I did, it was-" She grimaces. "I was very _expressive."_

Sokka can't even imagine what _expressive_ would look like from Mai. Was it a heartfelt declaration, or a quiet confession? Was her love something she flaunted, or gave in private? 

It's moments like this that Sokka's reminded that Mai, Zuko, all these people are still strangers, in some sense of the word. 

"But it all worked out in the end." Mai smooths her voice over, until it's neutral. "Welcome to the beach." 

Sokka's never been to the beach before, and it's just as glorious as he'd imagined. The sand is soft under their feet, and Sokka can smell the salt of the water wafting through the air. The sun is warm on their skin, but the humidity he's used to his cleared away a soft breeze floating past them. 

The two of them stand side by side, looking out into the vast expanse of ocean. Sokka's lived in Ba Sing Se all his life, a city that's circled with walls- he's never seen the sea before. 

It's beautiful. 

"Why do you come to the beach, Mai?" Sokka whispers. 

She lets out a deep sigh, and Sokka feels a wistfulness blooming that doesn't belong to him. 

"When I was seventeen- long before we got claimed by the cluster, I came here with Zuko, Ty Lee and Azula." She starts slowly, quietly. "We'd been at each other's necks because of the stress. School was difficult, as were the political duties we were beginning to receive at the time. Lo and Li- Zuko and Azula's caretakers- told us that the beach is where we'd find ourselves. We thought it was bullshit, obviously, but they were right." 

They sit on two lone rocks jutting out of the sand, flat enough for them to be seated comfortably. Sokka listens, but his eyes remain mesmerised by the sea, unable to look away. 

"All four of us are proud people." Mai says stonily, her amber eyes also trained on the water. "I can admit that. But we picked ourselves apart, that week on this beach. I realised I don't need to hide my feelings. My poor self-expression skills were a result of years of having to sit still and look pretty, for my family's sake. Ty Lee told us about her dreams of being herself. Just Ty Lee. Not Ty Lin or Ty Lat or any of the Ty sisters. Just Ty Lee. Azula, well- she was Ozai's favourite child, obviously- but she wished her mother would love her too." 

Mai pauses, recollecting herself for a moment. Even though she's grown to know that that emotions were not weakness, old habits die hard. 

"And Zuko- he'd just been reunited with his family. His disownment had changed him permanently-" 

"Wait." Sokka whips around, looking at Mai in disbelief. "Zuko was _disowned?"_

She looks at him, mildly surprised. "He didn't tell you? It's common knowledge that the President pretended he didn't have a son for a few years, Sokka." 

He feels discomforted at this revelation, remembering his conversation with Zuko a few nights prior. How he mentioned he was under constant watch. That it was dangerous for him to visit, him most of all. 

"Why did he get disowned?" Sokka murmurs, his heart wrenching for Zuko. He's sure the man can probably feel it, the twisting sadness enveloping his chest, all the way in Caldera- Sokka mellows it, hoping it hadn't been strong enough to raise concerns from the rest of the cluster. 

"He spoke out about cluster laws in an important meeting. He was only supposed to sit and watch, but he heard what the rest of the Congress was saying and couldn't keep his mouth shut." Mai sighs. "Zuko's a good person- much too good for Ozai's crowd. He was punished for it, then disowned- he went on a three year long, soul searching trip around the world with his uncle. Worked in a tea shop for a year- it was good for him-"

"Wait- he was punished, _then_ disowned?" Sokka cocks his head as he interrupts, confused. "The disownment wasn't the punishment?" 

Mai's face curls awkwardly, and she presses her lips together. 

"That scar on his face?" She mumbles. "Yeah, a gift from his father. Hot candle wax, flame and all, thrown at him."

The words knock the breath out of Sokka's lungs- it takes a few moments, for him to wrap his head around it. There's a myriad of emotions here- he and Mai share angersadnessshockfear and it radiates from them both. 

That _happened?_ To _Zuko?_

"That bastard." Sokka whispers, his hushed voice quivering with anger. "How could he do that to his own son?" 

"Cruelty runs in Ozai's blood. Azula is her father's daughter." Mai says, as casually as possible, but the story drains her too, a low simmering of fury bubbling deep within her. "But Zuko is his mother's son." 

"Then why did he go back?" Sokka demands. "Why is he in Caldera now?" 

Mai shrugs, finally unable to give him an answer. 

"I've told you a lot, Sokka." She says, but not unkindly. "I think that's a question you should save for him." 

It's understandable, but he huffs irritatedly anyways. With all this information under his belt, he's that much more closer to figuring out the mystery that was Zuko. It surprises him, how much he wants to understand Zuko- the magnetic pull to him that he'd felt since the night they met. 

"Thanks for taking me to the beach, Mai." Sokka says genuinely. 

She smiles at him, only quickly. 

"It's good for learning." Mai says. "Come back here with me whenever you need to find yourself again." 


	3. night troubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a dream sequence!!  
> just for the sake of understanding- in the dreams, sokka is in the body of whoever's dream it belongs to (ex. if he's in toph's dream, technically he is toph)- however, his consciousness remains. he is just experiencing the dream, and emotionally reacting to it. he does not physically react, because these dreams do not belong to him. imagine he's in a body in autopilot- he has no control over any of the actions, because it's not his body, or his dream.  
> please do not be put off by the explanation before this chapter! its just in case any confusions or questions arise. 
> 
> cw: discussion of murder (canon-typical), blood

_This dream doesn't belong to Sokka._

_He knows this because across from him is a mirror, on the wall of an empty chamber, and instead of his tan, lanky figure, a petite brunette with wide eyes and a round face stands in front of him. Ty Lee doesn't look familiar, in this image of her- well,_ he's _her, in this dream._

_Her cheeks are sallow, her face gaunt. Her mouth doesn't curve upwards, but rather down, into a small frown. Her normally perfect braids are messy and strewn._

_"Are you Ty Lat?" A voice echoes through this seemingly empty chamber. "Or Ty Liu?"_

_The names of her sisters- Sokka remembers his early days of knowing the charismatic Ty Lee- she was one of seven identical sisters; identical appearances, identical voices, identical eyes, smiles, laughs. She'd joked that their family had always been seen as a matched set, better together than apart- one look at her broken eyes showed Sokka that it wasn't funny at all._

_"Ty Lin!" Another voice exclaims. "Are you the acrobat?"_

_"Ty Woo!"  
_

_"Ty Lum!"_

_"Ty Lat! Ty Liu! Ty Lin! Ty Woo! Ty Lum! Ty Lao!"_

_Sokka could feel Ty Lee growing more and more agitated as the names continued to ring through her ears- each name so close, so similar to her's, but "Ty Lee" never comes up._

_"I'm Ty Lee." Sokka's- no,_ Ty Lee's _mouth moves on it's own accord._

_It's easy to forget- this isn't his dream. This isn't his body. This isn't his mind._

_The anonymous voice that lets the names rain down on the room don't stop. Ty Lee's heart races, beating out of her chest at breakneck speed._

_"I'm Ty Lee!" She wails, slamming her palms on the mirror. "I'm Ty Lee!"_

_The room morphs in a blur, a quick motion that makes Ty Lee's stomach twist with nausea, before it's set still once more. The room resembles the house of mirrors Sokka and Katara used to enter when they were children at the yearly carnival- every way Ty Lee turned, she saw herself in her haggard state. Now, tears streak down her face from reddening eyes- the sight of her reflection makes her cry even harder._

_Her appearance seemed to be another reminder of her fears, and she shrieks, kicking and punching at the mirrors with all her might. They stay still, unwavering._

_"Ty Lat! Ty Liu! Ty Lin! Ty Woo! Ty Lum! Ty Lao!"_

_"I'm Ty Lee!" She screams, falling to her knees, and a hundred other Ty Lees around the room fall with her. Her voice cracks, quiet and desperate._

_"I'm Ty Lee." She murmurs once more, closing her eyes and covering them, shutting out the house of mirrors and the voice's endless torrent of names._

_Her vision cuts to black._

* * *

Sokka wakes up with a shout, drenched in sweat, his hands shaking weakly. It takes him a few minutes to get his quivering breath back under control. 

"Just a dream." He whispers to himself, bringing his bare knees up to his chest. His skin is still covered in a sickly sheen of sweat, illuminated by the moonlight, but the brisk chill coming through the windows makes him shiver. "Just a dream." 

Ty Lee, in all honesty, had seemed like one of the happiest people Sokka had ever known. In his few weeks of knowing her, he'd only seen her laugh, smile, and fill every room she entered with a breathy giggle. 

He hadn't known this was a burden she carried. 

A bleary glance at the digital clock hanging on the wall showed Sokka it was barely midnight- he'd only been asleep an hour. He could feel his eyelids getting heavy once more, a week of hard work at school and miscellaneous jobs wearing on him and his body. 

He pulls the blankets around him a little tighter, and lets himself back into the warm clutches of sleep. 

* * *

_He approaches the street with caution, and a faint feeling of optimism. Sokka looks down at himself, and sees the worn orange overalls and scruffy sneakers with the ripped up laces, and recognises himself as Aang._

_He'd run away from here- a rash decision. A youthful decision. He'd been gone a long time._

_It was time for Aang to come back._

_The street is devoid of life except for him, and he walks slowly, eyes down on the sidewalk. His feet avoid all the cracks and all he lines, the silly nursery tune Grandfather Gyatso had taught him ringing in his skull._

_In the reflection of a dirty old rain puddle, Aang looks younger- his face softer, his eyes just a tad kinder than they are now. Aang, with all his love to give to the world, who smiled at strangers on the street and held doors open for people and helped old grannies across the street._

_Sokka, with a pang, knows how this story ends. His heart breaks for Aang once more- how often does he relive this moment in his dreams? His darkest memory, on constant loop every night?_

_When Aang looks up, he's in front of his house-_

_well, it's not much of a house anymore._

_Aang chokes back a sob, one that tears through his throat and his lungs and his heart and his body, his chest searing with hurt hurt hurt. Where his once beloved home stood, where his once beloved family lived, was a burnt, blackened house, collapsed in on itself. The door had fallen off its hinges, the cracked windows were vandalised, and when Aang couldn't see through the blur of tears anymore, he could only smell the infinite scent of smoke and sulfur._

_On the outside wall of the porch, the symbol of Ozai's presidency is graffitied with careful detail. It was no secret that Gyatso and the rest of Aang's family had strongly opposed his leadership. A_ _nd rightly so- the cruelty of this action shattered Aang- and Sokka's- heart once more, and he collapses to the driveway, his breathing becoming shallow as his body was racked with tears._

_He wanted to hold onto that last shred of hope, that perhaps his family was alive, somewhere in the world, but deep, deep down, in a place Aang buried all his troubles, he knew that Ozai's followers were diligent. Thorough._

_They would leave no survivors._

_Sokka feels an uncontrollable rage, so furious and loud that he doesn't know whether it belongs to him, or to Aang's dream- he's ready for bloodsport, ready for_ revenge- _Aang_ _flexes his hands, open and closed, wondering what it'd be like to take a life with them-_

_A warm, soft feeling nudges it's way into Aang's open palm, and his grief is interrupted by a calico cat pushing itself against his body. Its white fur is matted, filthy with soot, and Aang can feel bones poking out underneath sallow skin, but he'd never forget this cat._

_"Appa." Aang cries out, a broken bark of laughter escaping his throat. "You're alive."_

_He bundles the cat into his arms, burying his nose into it's dirty fur. It soaks up his tears, and together, on the driveway of the ruins of his home, he and Appa mourn the loss of everything._

* * *

For the second time of the night, Sokka jolts awake. This time, his heart does not race, nor does he sweat. He feels the sticky stain of tears on his face, bringing hand up to brush his face gently. He feels fragile, but this fragility belongs to Aang.

His heart goes out to the boy, barely a man. He was too young for such tragedy. 

Sokka fights the sobs that threaten to shake his body once more- his sadness and Aang's seem so tightly interwoven that he can't tell who's emotions belong to who's. He wonders, just for a moment, if everyone in the cluster is awake now, with tear tracks on their face, looking out at the same moon, the image of the burnt house imprinted in their minds. 

Sokka lays his head back down on the pillow- he's sure sleep won't last long, not tonight.

* * *

_This dream is not like the rest- for one, the his vision is hazy. Sokka adjusts to the intensity of light, the different hues and shades that come across his eyesight instead._

_He is Toph, in this dream- her ears perk up, twitching as they pick up the sounds of her surroundings._

_"How can she live like this? She's helpless." A weak voice, one that belongs to her father, echoes through the room. It's intended to be a whisper, for sure, but sound is a game and Toph is winning. She keeps her ears tuned into the conversation, even while she sits on this uncomfortable wooden chair, feet dangling and hands firmly in her lap._

_"I don't know, Lao." Her mother sighs, her voice wobbling. "Don't call your daughter helpless, please."_

_The words sting. Toph's_ blind, _but certainly able to hold her own. She presses her lips tightly together, biting her tongue and the scathing remarks that lay on it._

_"She's not to leave the estate." Lao Beifong says firmly. "She's to be escorted by two guards whenever she's in the gardens."_

_"And her education?" Poppy Beifong snaps back- Toph can imagine her rubbing her forehead, furrowed eyebrows that revealed wrinkles on her ageing face._

_"How much of an education can she get, Poppy?" Her father shouts back. "She can't read! She can't write!"_

_"We can't confine her to this house for the rest of her life!" Her mother raises her voice- this is the angriest Toph has ever heard her kind mother, and she fights the urge to flinch._

_"What choice do we have?" Lao practically whimpers, and Toph snaps._

_"I'm right here." She spits. Her parents fall silent, her mother with a gasp. Toph feels a simmering rage bubbling up somewhere in her heart, blood rushing through her ears._

_She's far from_ helpless. 

_"So what's your plan?" Toph hisses. "I sit still in this house for the rest of my life? I don't go to school? Don't get a job? Don't make money, don't move out, don't have kids- and the Beifong line dies with me?"_

_"Money is no issue, Toph-" Her father attempts interjecting, promptly quieting once more at her raised hand._

_"You're not going to be around forever." She snaps. Toph hears her father breathe out harshly- she hopes that her words were like a slap in the face. Maybe it would wake them out of their delusion._

_"I'm blind." She sneers, hopping off her chair and facing the direction of her blurred parents. "Not helpless. I've been alive thirteen years, yet I haven't lived at all."_

_Sokka has a newfound and deep respect for his friend- she was proud, strong, stubborn, even in this memory from all these years ago. This dream didn't feel like the nightmares Ty Lee and Aang had experienced tonight._

_Toph had never felt so alive before._

* * *

_Toph's memory morphs quickly into another. Another person, another dream._

_Sokka's vision is restored, and he finds himself in Suki's body. He knows it's Suki because he sees her kneeling across from him in a mirror- unlike Ty Lee's nightmare, Suki's dream takes place in a simple room with folding bamboo doors and wide glass windows. Sunlight filters through the windows, washing the room in warm morning glow._

_In the mirror, Suki stares at herself. She has long hair, hair that falls all the way down her back, pin straight and thick. Her face is bare, but her usually lively brown eyes are dull. She wears clothes that completely cover her shoulders, her stomach, her legs all the way down to her ankles and her arms all the way down to her wrists._

_She's not herself, and Sokka's heart breaks at the sight of her._

_A pair of scissors sits in front of her- Suki looks at them blankly, staring for moments that stretch into what felt like hours._

_She reaches for them, holding them up to her hair. There's at least ten inches being lost, where she holds them at shoulder length. A flash of something in her eyes- is it fear? Suki seems to shake it away, her eyes hardening._

_She presses the scissors into her hair, and rusty locks fall to the floor slowly._

_And seconds later, Suki looks like someone new._

_And she smiles._

_And she laughs._

_Soon, this image of Suki in the mirror takes her scissors and cuts off the long sleeves of her shirt, revealing wiry and muscled arms. The cut is far from even, but it's the last thing on her mind as she goes to work on the legs of her pants, humming a soft tune to herself as she snips snips snips._

_This is her._

_This is Suki._

_It's nice, reclaiming herself again. With one more look at herself in the mirror, she closes her eyes, feeling content._

_Her vision cuts to black._

* * *

_There's something wrong._

_Katara wakes up with a scream, but it doesn't belong to her._

_Sokka thinks he knows where this story is going- it's his story too, maybe, but he refuses to predict. It is a dream, and the mind runs rampant as it sleeps._

_She jerks up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. The floor is cold under her bare feet, grounding her as her heart pounds in her chest._

_"Mom?" Katara whimpers, and Sokka's heart falls out of his chest and shatters on the floor into a million little splintered pieces._

_There's no answer- Katara musters up as much bravery as she can, quietly creeping out of her room and into the hallway._

_"Sokka?" Her lip starts to quiver as she's met with silence once more. Sokka waits for the sound of him rustling awake in this memory of Katara's- but it never comes._

_He's reminded once more, that this is her nightmare, not her reality._

_"Dad?" Her voice cracks, and she walks out into her dark living room._

_The quiet is deafeningly loud, and Katara turns on the light._

_There's a scream. It belongs to her, this time._

_The bodies of her family lay on the floor, immobile. Pools of scarlet blood circle them, staining their once beautiful oriental rug. Katara screams again- is she just trying to fill the silence her family is leaving, right now?_

_"Mom!" She falls to her knees beside the body of her mother- her skin is still warm to the touch. If Katara concentrates, she can see the shallow rise and fall of her mother's chest._

_"Sweetheart." Her mother breathes, raspy and tense. Kya is a strong woman, but Katara can see the life leaving her eyes, her eyelids fluttering weakly._

_"How do I fix it?" Katara sobs. She presses her hand over the wound, blood pulsing onto her hands and washing them red. "How do I help?"_

_She waits moments for her mother to recollect herself, her wheezing breaths filling the room._

_"You can't." Kya finally says, smiling slightly._

_There's nothing happy about the statement- Katara has never felt more helpless in her life._

_"Mom, please." She sobs, pressing against the deep cut. The blood never seems to stop, flooding between her fingers and oozing onto the floor. "Please, please, please-"_

_And with one final heaving gasp, Kya's eyes flutter closed. Her chest falls for the last time, and without fanfare, she's gone._

_"No!" Katara screams, but she never takes her hands off the wound, not once. She swivels her head around, blood pumping in her ears at the sight of her fallen father and crumpled brother._

_For what feels like hours, Katara sits alone, alive, on her blood stained living room floor. She doesn't leave her family's side once._

* * *

Sokka stuffs a fist into his mouth to stifle the scream that tears out of his throat as he shoots awake, his eyes flying open, bloodshot and wet. No matter how heavily he breathes, his heartbeat can't seem to even out. 

He wants to sleep peacefully, but he thinks this night has to happen. 

Is this what plagues Katara's thoughts? Sokka, with a pang, realises that Katara blames herself for the murder of their mother. 

She was a child- there was nothing she could do. He supposes that's why she's studying to be doctor, now, skilled with a needle and thread and holding lives in her hands ever so delicately. 

His head hits the pillow, and he resigns himself to sleep and the overwhelming baggage that comes with it. 

* * *

_Sokka enters someone else's dream once more, sinking into a body that doesn't belong to him._

_This hour, it's Mai._

_The long dinner table is too large for a family of four. Her mother and father sit at opposite ends of the table, meters and meters apart. Mai sits between them, across from her kid brother._

_"So Mai, what do you think of your new tutor?" Her mother asks politely._

_When Mai looks up from her pristine bowl of noodles, she freezes- behind her brother is_ her. 

_But it isn't really her, not really._

_The Mai she hallucinates in front of her is infuriated, eyebrows furrowed crossly and mouth open, screaming obscenities and curses. Mai knows, even without hearing herself, that it's about the blasted tutor that she despises so much._

_Sokka remembers Mai's comments about her far-from-expressive past. Does it still rest in her mind, even today? Her years of broken emotions wear on her, coming to light tonight in this dream._

_Nobody else at the table seems to see it except for her. It haunts her, but she smooths her expression over, her eyes hardening even while trained on the vision of herself rampaging behind her brother._

_It's not real. This is not a memory, rather a visualisation of her deepest and innermost...._

_Fears? Desires?_

_She can't tell anymore._

_"I find her skills very useful." Mai answers monotonously. "Thank you for employing her, mother."_

_"And how is that friend of yours?" Her father makes an awkward attempt at conversing. "Ty Lee."_

_Fake-Mai laughs next to the sudden presence of a Fake-Ty Lee. Again, Mai flinches at the sight of them, but nobody notices. Fake-Mai tucks a strand of Fake-Ty Lee's brown hair behind her ear with a large smile. A genuine smile._

_A happy smile._

_Mai hadn't seen that on herself in a long time._

_"She's fine." Mai says neutrally, never taking her eyes off of Fake-Ty Lee and Fake-Mai. Their faces are abnormally close, and a wistful, angry feeling lodges itself in Mai's heart, staying there and pulsing for attention._

_Sokka deduces this is before they started dating._

_"I heard you and Azula got into a fight, this morning." Her mother sighs. The image of Fake-Mai and Fake-Ty Lee morphs into something else- Fake-Mai and Fake-Azula face one another, behind Tom-Tom. Fake-Azula's eyes are wild, screaming at her. Fake-Mai screams back, running a hand through normally-picture perfect hair._

_Mai hadn't screamed back at Azula. She'd stood there, eyes cold, and didn't raise her voice once._

_"We've resolved it." Mai answers her mother. Fake-Mai and Fake-Azula are inches apart, screeching at each other._

_Mai doesn't know if that's what she wants._

_"Good." Her mother sighs. "It wouldn't be very smart to argue with the President's daughter, Mai. And you've been old friends for so long, darling- be more careful. We wouldn't want rumours to spread."_

_For a moment, Mai thinks she might snap back. She has a scathing remark on the tip of her tongue, and all she has to do is open her mouth and let it go and-_

_She bites down on it._

_"Yes, mother." Is what she says instead, and her mother nods, satisfied. When Mai looks behind Tom-Tom, Fake-Mai is gone, and she is cold once more._

* * *

_Sokka waits for his consciousness to settle into another body, but it never happens._

_He sits in his old living room- it feels strange, seeing it, after Katara's dream. There is no blood on the floor, no bodies sunken into the carpet._

_He is not alone, in this room- in fact, it's full. Katara, his mother and father laugh happily on the couch at Aang and Toph's antics in front of them. Mai and Ty Lee lean against the wall, whispering amusedly to one another. Suki sits on the carpet, clapping when Aang cracks another joke._

_Zuko's here too- he laughs, melodic and tinkling through the room. Sokka's heart stutters a little at the sight of him, before his eyes sweep to the figure next to him and-_

_Oh._

_Her._

_Yue is as radiant as ever- her white hair is held out of her tan face with intricate braids. She is beautiful, in this light, sitting in his living room. With her next to Zuko, he doesn't know where to look._

_He hasn't seen her in so long. He's speechless._

_He gets up from where he's sitting, reaching for her- he stretches- finally, after all these years, she'll be in his arms again._

_And just as his hands could brush her delicate hands, she fades out of his vision, and disappears._

_She's gone._

_Sokka stands, aghast, at where she'd just been standing. Zuko doesn't seem to notice anything wrong, still laughing at Toph and her silly jokes. Nobody seems to notice her sudden disappearance._

_Sokka reaches towards his mother, desperate to ask what just happened to Yue, where she went, and as he reaches for her tunic-_

_She disappears._

_"No." Sokka whispers, spinning his head around the woman, looking for them. They're gone, really gone._

_He tries to grasp for Katara._

_She fades out of existence. The large family photographs show only Sokka and his father, empty spaces where his mother and sister should be._

_"Aang?" He cries out, but the boy, too, fades out of existence. He turns to Toph, only to see her go as well. The room, even as it empties, feels suffocating, as everyone he loves and cares for begins to leave in the blink of an eye._

_Blink. Ty Lee continues to giggle even when Mai disappears._

_Blink. Suki disappears._

_Blink. Ty Lee is gone._

_"Dad?" Sokka's voice shakes. His father is already gone, and the sofa that had been packed with his family members is empty. It's like they were never even there in the first place._

_Zuko is smiling normally, eyes trained where Aang and Toph had been, as if they were still there. Sokka waves his hand in front of his face, but Zuko never even looks at him._

_It's like he doesn't exist._

_"Zuko, please." Sokka murmurs. "Don't go."_

_And just as he grabs Zuko's hand- feels his warm skin, just for a split second- Zuko fades out of view. The pictures that line the wall are empty, showing landscapes with no people except for Sokka, his arms around invisible figures._

_He's never felt so alone._

* * *

_The vision swirls into yet another mirror. Sokka's sick of reflections at this point, but not this one._

_When he looks into this mirror, he stares at the image of Zuko._

_He looks different. Tired. Worn and skinny. His cheekbones jut out, and when he raises his hands, Sokka can see his wrist bones and knuckles poking out of his pale skin._

_His scarred eye is impaired- in the mirror, Sokka sees a white patch laid over it gently. The injury is recent- it still stings when he moves his face._

_Zuko stares at himself in the mirror. There's something about this image of him that doesn't look real- his skin is too translucent, his good eye too wide and glassy._

_He raises a needle and thread, slowly stringing the red string into the eyehole of the needle with deadly precision. His face remains neutral, but Sokka wonders what dream-Zuko is doing._

_When he finishes tying the string to the thread, Zuko raises it to his lips. And with one stinging push, he pushes it through his bottom lip, up into his top lip, and out._

_Horrified, Sokka tries to stop Zuko's actions. He can't- this is not his body, this is not his dream. Zuko repeats the motion, except going downwards through his top lip, through his bottom lip, and out again._

_Blood starts to trickle down from the wounds, washing his chin and mouth red. Not once does his face betray the dull ache he feels on his mouth- it's methodical, measured, how he sews his mouth closed._

_In, out, in, out, in, out, in, out._

_Sokka's miserable- he knows exactly why Zuko has these nightmares. The day he spoke out against his father must have been the worst of his life- the heartbreak, betrayal and fiery hot pain seared into his memory, never to be forgotten._

_When Zuko finally cuts the loose end of string, he wipes the blood off the needle between his index finger and thumb, before delicately placing it on the desk in front of him._

_He looks awful, in the mirror- his chin is streaked with red, his lips swollen and aching with the string threaded through it. His skin blanches even further until every last blue vein is visible._

_A lone tear falls from his eye._

_It's the only sign he feels anything at all._

* * *

Sokka wakes up again. 

He brings the tips of his fingers to his mouth- he thinks he feels the ghost of a needle tracing his lips, but he knows it's nothing more than his overactive imagination. 

Sokka's absolutely exhausted- his body is sore, though he hadn't moved, and his eyes droop uncomfortably. He'd dreamed every dream the cluster had to offer; every heartache, every scrap of pride, every fear and desire. 

And no matter how unforgettable, how _traumatic_ it was- Sokka thinks it was for the best. 

He's never felt closer to his cluster than now, even when they were all separated in different beds, in different rooms, in different homes, in different cities.

Through the window, Sokka can faintly hear the familiar quiet buzz and noise of Ba Sing Se waking up. The sun is rising, painting his room a faint gold, the clouds outside his window pink and wispy. 

He doesn't lay his head back down on the pillow. His night troubles are finished, for today, as morning comes to light. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my twitter is @505daytime, and my tumblr is @oliivverwood!!

**Author's Note:**

> my twitter is @505daytime please feel free to dm and chat <3


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